5 Technology Lessons Learned From Recent Winter Weather

The recent and repeating brutal winter weather (especially on the East Coast) should serve as a reminder for business owners: even the best-laid plans can be wrecked by natural and man-made disasters. Across the South and Mid-Atlantic, thousands of car accidents, at least a dozen fatalities, and untold numbers of stranded drivers and students were blindsided by the snow and ice that descended on the region.

Here are the lessons that CMIT Solutions gleaned from such widespread impacts:

1) In the event of travel restrictions, all companies should be prepared to have employees telecommute.Chambers of commerce across the country reported hundreds of millions of dollars in combined lost revenue, wages, and production due to last week’s major storm. And that makes sense: employee and customer safety should be of the utmost concern when snow and ice descend on an unprepared region… [click here to read more].

2) Critical business data needs to be accessible to all pertinent parties. Of course, employees can only telecommute if they have access to important business information. Utilizing the cloud to host that data and make it available to key personnel…[click here to read more].

3) Even in the midst of a snow-pocalypse, business continuity will ensure that your company stands out. When whole metropolitan areas are paralyzed by snow and ice, we all expect many companies to shut down as well. If your business is closed, you should still maintain communication via email, either through smartphones, webmail applications like CMIT RADAR, or cloud-based applications …[click here to read more].

4) Make sure you or your IT provider are performing regular remote backups. In the event of long-term electrical grid outages or even damage to your physical office, trustworthy backups can be a lifesaver for your business. Off-site backups are often stored in multiple locations to account for the possibility of widespread power failures…[click here to read more].

5) Develop a disaster recovery plan that covers the “before,” “during,” and “after” phases of a major storm. Before a storm arrives, all employees should be signed up with an emergency texting service that can immediately transmit announcements…[click here to read more].

As a fellow small business owner, we at CMIT Solutions understand how disruptive winter storms can be. But we also have extensive experience helping other small businesses weather the nastiest of storms — and extend increased productivity and cost savings far past the point when snow and ice finally melts.

Contact us today to find out how we can put our system monitoring, remote backup and disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions to work for you.